Travel in a unpredictable world has become normal!

2005-12-30

Which countries and regions are most risky? How can travellers deal with in today's travel environment? Which precautions should be taken? In the previous years there has been several disasters around the world as the threat of avian flu, Ebola, AIDS, wars, violent demonstrations, a massive earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia, the Haitang typhoon in Southeast China and Taiwan, Hurricanes in America, bomb attacks in London, Bali and Amman, and the devastating earthquake in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. So many dramatic incidents have happened in a short time that it seems that travellers should be prepared for dealing with unexpectable situations. That`s the life of travelling today. The only things which is normal is the unexpectable!

Photo. Friendly Indian in the Amazon jungle, Brazil. Most people in the world are nice, but some few frighten others from travelling and building friendships across borders.

However, while international travel should have been badly affected by these threats, latest figures from the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) show a 5.9% growth in international tourist arrivals for the first seven months of the year as compared with the corresponding period in 2004.

In fact, the UNWTO expects the year to end with an increase of 5 to 6%, saying that this is "exceptional" given that peaceful 2004 was a record year for the industry, and that the estimate exceeds the forecast long-term average growth of 4%.

Be aware of that World Tourism Organization has changes acronym to UNWTO.

So what about 2006? The outlook is also good for growth in tourism. People don`t stop travelling despite dramatic and tradegic incidents. To travellers, I will say as Lonely Planet do: "Don`t worry about how the trips will work out. Just go!" Or to say it as the famous author Mark Twain 1835-1910 wrote: "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened".

Stein Morten Lund, 30 December 2005